Dr. Tracy has had a unique experience in helping impaired professionals and is knowledgeable in utilizing the many resources available for addicted Healthcare Professionals with licensure issues. He has become a leader in interventions on impaired licensed Professionals lecturing to physician and dental groups was well as Universities on recognizing and treating professional impairment.
“I have not only helped professionals begin to recover from addiction but also how to protect their professional license. I also have helped families understand that the earlier effective action is taken the easier it is to protect their career.”
Studies have shown impaired professionals who receive adequate treatment combined with long term monitoring for 5 years have a 90% success rate. This is the highest recovery rate for any population and applies to any licensed professional including; Physicians, Dentists, Lawyers, Pilots, Pharmacists, Veterinarians, and Nurses.
Dr. Tracy knows families and colleagues need to understand the importance of early intervention. Early intervention can prevent any formal discipline or public record. In most cases, if handled appropriately, the treatment and monitoring process can be confidential without any formal reporting to the licensing board; which can result in being reported to agencies like the national practitioners data bank where insurance and malpractice carriers may have a huge impact on the professionals career. If legal advice is required Dr. Tracy will work closely with experienced Attorneys who are extremely successful in working with Licensing Boards, Hospital Administration regarding privileges, and Malpractice Carriers to insure minimal impact on an individuals professional career.
Objectives for Professional Intervention
- Assess for immediate safety issues and refer to crisis treatment if needed
- Present realities of the specific situation with care and concern
- Provide clear information about addiction and recovery
- Facilitate referral to legal advocacy for licensure and privilege issues
- Educate participants to roles of Licensing Boards and possible consequences
- Discuss the roles and success rates of Professional Monitoring Programs
- Motivate professional to specific multi-disciplinary assessment and evaluation if needed
- Liaison to facility with experience in evaluation and treatment of Professionals
- Insure participant follow-through with evaluation and treatment recommendations
Real Professional Results
Most families and colleagues are afraid that if they confront and expose the addiction their impaired professional they will ruin their career. We recognize this fear and spend a great deal of time helping those around the impaired professional understand the realities of help available, including the professional monitoring programs. The truth is that the professional monitoring programs were established to help impaired professionals return to their careers as an alternative to punishment.
“I was never able to stay sober as long as I was deciding what I needed to do. When the decision was taken away from me about what I needed to do for my recovery I got sober”.
Professionals are great at taking care of others, but not so good at taking care of themselves. In fact we are usually caregivers and not care takers. With an impaired professional a motivational approach is essential. Usually the professional education and training works against us once impairment begins.
“My strong ego, education and professional status prevented me from seeking help before my catastrophic consequences occurred. I have found this to be true for most professionals.”
How we frame our communication has a lot to do with whether or not the person accepts our recommendations.
“If you present your recommendations as a threat, or focus on what they have to loose, they’re more likely not to accept your recommendations, but if you fame in terms of what they have to gain by following your recommendations, like keep your license, your hospital privileges, your family etc. studies show that they will be almost four times more likely to accept your requests”.